DeVivo leads Mt. St. Joe to anoth National Prep title

Mount St. Joseph's top-ranked Danny DeVivo (160) pinned his way to the title in the National Prep Tournament at Lehigh (Pa.) University over the weekend, leading the Gaels to their fourth crown in the seven-year tenure of coach Paul Triplett.

Also for the Gaels, top-ranked Paul Scott (140) and third-ranked Kenny Hunter (heavyweight) were runners-up, top-ranked David Inkman (130) and fifth-ranked Tyran Dungee (135) each placed fourth, and Jake Lissau (112) was fifth.

DeVivo's six victories consisted of two falls, a technical fall and decisions of 3-1 over McDonogh's third-ranked Martius Harding and 12-7 over Bullis of Montgomery County's fourth-ranked Eugene Brodetski. DeVivo then pinned Andrew Unterberg of St. Mark's (Del.) in 2:38 for the title.

Harding later edged Brodetski, 7-4, for third place.

Scott's five victories included three straight first-period falls followed by decisions of 4-0, and 2-0. The 4-0 victory came over Bullis' fourth-ranked Benny Ferro, who was 32-0 entering their bout.

Calvert Hall's top-ranked, Gino Amasia (103) lost his title bout to Blair Academy post-grad Sean Gray, 5-2. A week earlier, Amasia, a junior, was honored for scoring the most team points by any wrestler in winning his second straight Maryland Scholastic Association title on three pins and a major decision.

Last year, Matthews made the most of three state qualifiers, getting a runner-up and two fourth-place finishes to place eighth in the 1A-2A state tournament -- higher than any other city team in the 1A-2A or 3A-4A tournaments.

Saturday at Lackey, he again qualified three wrestlers for the state tournament, including two champions in third-ranked Bruce Pendles (112, 25-1) and sixth-ranked Hermondez Thompson (135, 23-2). Kevin Thomas (103, 15-5) finished fourth. Both Pendles and Thompson were regional runners-up last year.

Pendles pinned the Howard County champ and the Howard County runner-up before winning 10-0 over then-sixth-ranked Montgomery County champ Randy Pickett (25-2) of Damascus.

Thompson beat the Howard County champ in the first round, the Montgomery County runner-up in the second and won his title bout, 10-2, over Hammond's Brian Law.